


More Than Words

by Rsbry_Beret



Category: Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Getting Together, M/M, Tobin’s POV, big words, this is my first fan fiction so go easy on me, zep - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:13:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23988679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rsbry_Beret/pseuds/Rsbry_Beret
Summary: Five words that Tobin knew and one word that Leif did.(Rated T for swearing)
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Tobin Batra/Leif Donnelly
Comments: 23
Kudos: 55





	More Than Words

**Author's Note:**

> Title is a song by The Extremes

_ Insouciant _

Tobin’s eyes hurt. He’d been staring at the code flying by on his screen for hours now, eyes flicking away to look at the clock every few minutes despite himself. He fiddled with the cuff of his jacket again, scratching at the hole hidden in the lining fabric, then reached for his water bottle, bringing it to his mouth before remembering it had been empty for coming up two hours. He sighed, typed a line of code before deleting it again. 

“Hey, man.” Leif leaned over Tobin’s shoulder, resting his elbows on his shoulders. “How you feeling?”

“Insouciant.” He glanced out at his coworkers, mostly busy with whatever they were working on, but Zoey glanced up at the sound. “I-N-S-O-U-C-I-A-N-T. That means indifferent, for all you boneheads.” He tilted his head back to grin at Leif, before realizing their faces were  _ way  _ too close together. 

“Tobes, dude, have you eaten anything today?” Leifs eyebrows furrowed. Tobin was struck with the sudden desire to poke the lines that showed up in the corners of his eyes until he smiled again, which he promptly ignored. He was probably just dehydrated or something, which reminded him. 

“I had breakfast. Passed on lunch though- had to catch this bug, you know. Then I guess I just forgot. It’s whatever.” He smiled, trying not to look as awkward as he suddenly felt. “Have to keep this hot bod looking tight anyway, am I right?”

Tobin kept frowning. “Dude, it’s 4:00. Have you at least had water?”

“I ran out.”

“ _ Dude. _ Seriously, give me your water bottle, I’ll refill it.”

Tobin smiled at his monitor, happy knowing that Leif wouldn’t be able to see him do it. He grabbed his water bottle and passed it up, felt Leif pull away and ruffle Tobin’s hair as he went. “Thanks, bro,” he called out as he heard Leif’s footsteps walk away. 

**_Soubrette_ **

“Dude, it’s your birthday! We have to do something fun. Go to a strip club, meet some  _ soubrettes _ , drink until we black out, whatever! We’re only young once, bro.”

Max glanced shrewdly at Tobin. “Okay, ignoring the fact that you just quoted Bunny Paul, what on earth is a soup bet?”

Tobin smirked. “A very flirtatious woman. But I guess you aren’t really familiar with that, are you, Max?”

Leif sighed once, then again, louder, as though he was worried he hadn’t gotten his point across. “A woman  _ pretending _ to be flirtatious, actually. And we’re not going to a strip club for my birthday.”

“ _ Dude. _ Literally why not?” Tobin stuck his bottom lip out, fluttered his eyelashes dramatically. Leif stared at his mouth for a long second before looking away suddenly. 

“Because it’s my birthday, so I get to choose what we’re doing. And we’re having pizza at our place while we watch movies.”

Zoey laughed while Max glared at Leif. “By ‘movies’ you mean ‘pretentious French art house films that are in black and white even though they were filmed last year’, right?”

“Shut up, Max, Leif can do what he wants. It’s  _ his _ birthday,” Tobin said. 

Zoey squinted at him from across the room. “Okay, what?”

**_Syllepsis_ **

“Man, my date last night was awesome.” Tobin grinned, smug and too big to fit on his face. 

“Man, I didn't ask,” Max replies from his desk, not even bothering to look up. Max was a loser. Tobin ignored him. 

“She blew my mind and then she blew something else, if you catch my drift.” He waggled his eyebrows, just in case he hadn’t. 

Max pinched the bridge of his nose for a few seconds. 

“Yeah?” Tobin kept grinning. “A little syllepsis there. That means a word that has two meanings in one sentence.” He sat heavily at his desk, booted up his computer. “Wow, it’s exhausting to have to dumb myself down for you guys.”

Max lay his head down on his desk. 

“Not the only reason I’m exhausted, though.”

Tobin heard a tortured groan from

Max’s direction. He didn’t bother making the joke- might as well give the poor guy a break. 

Man, he was such a good guy. 

**_Deification_ **

Tobin stirred his fruit loops around and around his bowl, watching the milk slowly turn blue-gray. He was hungry, and the cereal was definitly going to get soggy soon, but if he finished before Leif made his stupid avocado toast then he’d have no reason to eat breakfast with him. 

“Okay, but real talk, Fusajiro Yamauchi is a God,” he finally said, breaking the peaceful silence. 

Leif stared at Tobin for a few long seconds before nodding slowly. “You’re definitely not wrong, but why are we talking about this now?”

Tobin shrugged and tried not to stare at Leif’s shoulders. “I just thought it should be said. The man founded Nintendo. Everyone should be talking about him all the time.” God, Leif’s eyes were so blue. “And it’s not deification if the man is actually a God.” 

“Deification,” Leif repeated, smiling in that half-smile sort of way he had. 

“Treating someone like a God. You have really white teeth, bro.” Did he say that out loud? God, he said that out loud, didn’t he?

Leif quirked his head to the left, raising an eyebrow. “Thanks?”

Tobin quickly turned around before Leif could see his blush. “Yeah, bro. Man. Buddy.” Jesus Christ. 

**_Pulchritudinous_ **

It was raining on the way to work, and Tobin had never been happier about it. He always took the bus from his and Leif’s apartment, but Leif insisted on riding his bicycle, something about cardio-based workouts and  _ don’t you want to have a long and healthy life, _ and honestly Tobin had stopped listening about six seconds in because the way Leif’s hair flopped over his eyes was unfairly distracting. 

But it was raining this morning, and Leif had still rode his bike to work, so now he was soaking wet, standing at his desk in his probably ruined cardigan and looking for all the world like an angry chihuahua. 

Tobin didn’t think he’d ever loved him more. 

“Pulchritudinous,” he said, in what he thought was a whisper, but then Leif turned around, confused.

“Okay, man, you’ve got me stumped. What’s that one mean?”

_ Beautiful, _ Tobin thought, and then he panicked. “Messy.” 

Leif looked at him for a moment longer, then smiled at him, awkward and sweet and just for Tobin, no one else. “Cool.”

Then he turned back to his desk, clacking away at his keyboard like he was trying to do something fast before he forgot, and Tobin turned back to his computer, trying to catch his breath. 

**_(Eudaemonic)_ **

It was after work, and the rain had just cleared up, leaving the sky full but bright and the wind sharp but refreshing after a long day of filtered air. Tobin took a deep breath in, and then another. He felt a hand fall on his shoulder and turned around. 

“Hey,” Leif said, shuffling his feet a little, looking a little nervous. “Hey, can we talk before we head home?”

Tobin smiled and nodded, letting Leif guide him by his shoulder.  _ Home _ . Before  _ we _ go  _ home.  _ Suddenly Tobin felt very fragile, like if Leif clutched his hand a little tighter he might fall apart, starting at his shoulder and stretching all the way through to his heart, his wobbly knees, his toes. It wasn’t an awful feeling, actually. 

“So…” Tobin finally started, after a long time of walking in silence, Leif’s hand still touching him, warm and present. 

“So,” Leif started, then cleared his throat, stopping on the sidewalk in front of yet another random Starbucks. He pulled his hand away and Tobin wanted to grab it back immediately. He stuffed his fists in his jacket to stop himself. 

“So,” Leif began again, turning to face Tobin, “I think you’re...eudaemonic.”

Tobin looked at Leif and Leif looked right back, like this was an important moment, like there was something invisible and heavy passing between them. 

“I… don’t know what that means,” Tobin finally admitted, still not looking away. Honestly, he didn’t think he could if he wanted to. His eyes felt stuck. He didn’t want to anyway, though. 

Leif didn’t blink, just lifted his hand back up again, slow and purposeful. He set it down on Tobin’s shoulder, then slid it back, touching his neck, then cupping his jaw. Tobin felt like he couldn’t breath. Tobin felt like he was breathing for the first time. Tobin didn’t know what he felt, just that it was good. 

“It means that you make me happy,” Leif said carefully, quietly. 

Tobin kissed him. 

It was a very good kiss. So good that Tobin didn’t think he really wanted to do anything else, ever. Awkward in that way that all first kisses were, because first Leif was just touching him by his jaw, and Tobin’s hands were still in his pockets, but then something changed and they were clutching at each other. No, not clutching. They were holding each other. 

Eventually Tobin pulled back for air. 

“I googled your word,” Leif admitted immediately, before he could even say anything. Leif brushed Tobin’s hair from his eyes, and Tobin just laughed, quiet and happy. 

“Then I guess you know I think you’re perfect?”

“I’m not,” Leif said, suddenly serious. He started to pull his hands back, and Tobin caught them, held them in his own. “I’m not perfect. I’m actually really messed up, man.”

Tobin just smiled, smiled. It felt like he couldn’t stop. He didn’t want to stop. “I love you.”

Leif froze. “Oh,” he breathed. 

“Yeah.” Tobin kept smiling. “Oh.”

Leif smiled too, cartoonishly huge on his face, like he hadn’t ever smiled that big before and was still learning how. Then he let out a noise, almost like he was going to cry, and Tobin was scared for a second before he realized that Leif was  _ giggling. _

Tobin started giggling too. Sue him, it was infectious, and Leif was cute, and they had kissed, and he said he made him happy. 

Leif rushed forward suddenly, yanking his hands from Tobin’s grip to wrap around his waist, pulling Tobin in for a hug. 

And they stayed like that, intertwined on the sidewalk, giggling and smiling and happy, for a very long time. 

And then they both went home. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> If you leave comments I will cry tears of joy so please do :)


End file.
